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Lesson Plan
THE
CIVIL WAR
T
H
E W A R A C R O S S F I V
E
A P R I L S
Studying the Civil War has been one of the highlights of our Home school
adventures! We’ve immersed ourselves in so much fantastic reading that
it's
been tough to pull this unit to a close. I knew that this particular
unit
had to be the next one up on the web; I’m very anxious to share it with
you
all.
To understand the Civil War is to realize that there are very complex
issues involved--not just secession and slavery, but the
economic and political interests that stirred both fires. Amazed
to find that key events I remembered as a child were not necessarily
the most important incidents. As the puzzle started to come together,
we will begin to see that it wasn’t just the evil South fighting the upright North. There is much
to be gained and lost from both sides. I’m sure reams have been written
with opinions to who was right
and who was wrong on issues.
This unit is primarily reading with some key projects involved. I will
mention at this point that my children I am teaching right now are in
3rd and 5th grade. It is also heavy on history, but very light on most
other subjects (there is so much to absorb, you don’t want to get
off-topic). Health is emphasized due to the fact that deaths were
generally in the category of
infections, diseases, starvation and exposure. Much of the country’s
money was spent on prosthetic limbs. Strategy and logic, however, were
heavily emphasized.
We also spent approximately 10 weeks on the Civil War and you may wish
to spend more or less. What I will do is offer you our list of
resources and our project ideas (complete with pictures!) and
instructions. I’ll also note at what point we introduced certain
projects into our study as well as field trips or any additional
information. We basically began at the beginning and
worked our way through, using a timeline as a guide for what came next!
It
worked wonderfully and we were able to see the way the events unfolded
before
our eyes!
BOOKS:
**Although we read 95% of the books I’m presenting, please consider
this an idea of what to possibly look for, although not exhaustive by
far! Depending on the length of time you spend studying this topic will
allow only so much reading. Also, some of this was family read aloud
and others were assigned to proper levels. Some of even the simpler
books were read aloud to all, simply
because the content was concise and relevant. In other words, it did
the
job and we didn't need to wade through a 250 page chapter book! Don’t
be
afraid to substitute; there are MANY good books to choose from out
there.
• The Story of the Underground Railroad
(Cornerstones
of Freedom)
• ...If You Traveled on the Underground Railroad
• The Drinking Gourd (An I Can Read Book)
• I Thought My Soul Would Rise and Fly: The Diary of
Patsy, A Freed Girl
(Dear America Series)
• The Addy Series (American Girl - 6 books)
• Uncle Tom's Cabin (Obviously, discretion is
advised.
We used this as
read aloud and stopped
frequently
to explain and answer questions)
• The Story of John Brown's Raid on Harper's Ferry
(Cornerstones of Freedom)
• Fort Sumter (Cornerstones of Freedom)
• The Day Fort Sumter was Fired On (Scholastic)
• A Nation Torn: The Story of How the Civil War
Began
(Scholastic)
• ...If You Lived at the Time of the Civil War
• Jefferson Davis (Cornerstones of Freedom)
• ...If You Grew Up with Abraham Lincoln
• Meet Abraham Lincoln (A Step Up book)
• The Boys' War: Confederate and Union Soldiers Talk
About
the Civil War (Scholastic)
• The Battle of Antietam (Cornerstones of Freedom)
• For Home and Country: A Civil War Scrapbook
(Scholastic)
• A House Divided: The Lives of Ulysses S. Grant and
Robert E. Lee
(Scholastic)
• Robert E. Lee: The Christian (Christian Liberty
Press)
• The Life of General Stonewall Jackson (Christian
Liberty
Press)
• The Life of J. E. B. Stuart (Christian Liberty
Press)
• With Lee in Virginia (G. A. Henty - Family read
aloud)
• War, Terrible War (Book 6 of 'A History of US' -
Joy
Hakim)
• The Journal of James Edmond Pease: A Civil War
Union
Soldier
(My Name is America Series)
• The Story of the Gettysburg Address (Cornerstones
of
Freedom)
• The Story of the Surrender at Appomattox Courthouse
(Cornerstones of Freedom)
• Frederick Douglass (A See and Read Beginning to
Read
Biography)
• Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An
American
Slave
(autobiography)
• Gentle Annie: The True Story of a Civil War Nurse
(Apple)
• The Story of Clara Barton of the Red Cross
• Civil War Poetry and Prose (Walt Whitman)
• The Bonnets & Bugles Series (10 Books)
VIDEOS:
• A Woman Called Moses (starring Cicely Tyson -
story
of Harriet Tubman)
• Follow the Drinking Gourd (wonderful narration by
Morgan
Freeman)
• Pink and Say (highly recommend - Say Curtis
describes
his meeting
with Pinkus Aylee, a black
soldier,
during the Civil War, and their
capture by Southern troops. Based
on
a true story about the author's
great-great-grandfather.
• The Civil War (By Ken Burns - 9 videos, highly
recommend!!)
• Tour of Civil War Battlefields
• The Red Badge of Courage
• Gettysburg (once again, discretion is advised due
to
violence and language)
• Lincoln at Gettysburg
OTHER RESOURCES:
• Historical Devotional A.D 1861-1865 (Mantle
Ministries
- Highly
Recommend!! Little Bear Wheeler
narrates
a 4-cassette devotional
weaving scripture lessons with the
events leading up to the war
through the surrender. )
These can be found at:
http://www.mantlemin.com/
• The Civil War: It's Music and It's Sounds (2 CDs
of
Band Music, Field
Music, The Sounds of Conflict,
Firearms,
Bugle Signals, Fife and Drum
Calls, Narration and more)
• American Songs of Revolutionary Times and the
Civil
War Era
• Wee Sing America
• Abraham Lincoln and His Family: Paper Dolls in
Full
Color (Dover)
• Civil War Uniforms Coloring Book (Dover )
• Uniforms of the Civil War ...in Color
• Civil War Game (Learningames - EMA)
PROJECTS:
• Timeline: This is crucial for understanding all of the
events
and the order that they came in. It was also a great practice in
penmanship
and helped reiterate each event in a nutshell.
• Civil War Journal: A continuation of penmanship with much
creative
writing.
• Confederate & Union Costumes (on a Shoestring Budget): We
pulled
together two great outfits with little money spent and little sewing
involved
(my kind of project!).
• Civil War Gazette: A fantastic project for creative
writing
and photography practice (take advantage of those outfits you
created!).
Much research leads to mini-reports
through the eyes of a reporter!
• Filmstrip Report: Who said a report had to be boring and
dull?
My children have enjoyed this project so much, it’s been hard to get
them
to stop writing! (What a problem!) By the time the report was finished,
they
would have had many, many pages of detailed information, but because of
its
bite-size presentation, they can thoroughly research the topic and
enjoy
preparing it. This heavily utilizes illustrations as well.
• Civil War Chess Set: We happened to be taking a chess class at
the
time and had no chess set available, thus came the idea to create our
own!
This is an optional project. I wanted to include this in case you
would
like to have the directions for it. It certainly promotes strategy and
logic!
